- Subscription option added

- Rolling out soon

- Offline viewing coming before Christmas

One of the biggest bugbears we have about the ITV Hub is the proliferation of adverts that play before each catch-up show. Yes, the channel needs to make money somehow and is a commercial enterprise, but there's so many of them you can be forgiven for giving up on watching the programme itself.

That's soon to change, with a new option being rolled out that could mean the end of advertising in the app forever. If you pay for it, that is.

ITV has announced that it is to offer a subscription option as part of its catch-up and on demand service. ITV Hub+ costs £3.99 per month and gets rid of the adverts entirely.

It is already available on some iOS devices thanks to a pilot scheme, but will roll out to many more smartphones and tablet apps soon. Hub+ users will also be able to strip the ads from PC and Smart TV versions of the ITV Hub in the "coming months".

In addition, ITV has announced that it is introducing offline viewing, with downloads to be available to iPhone and iPad users before Christmas. This will also require a Hub+ subscription.

You can continue to watch ITV programming for free, but won't get the download ability or an ad-free experience.

We would argue that better picture quality should be a priority rather than no adverts, with some ITV Hub streams being very low bitrate in comparison to services from rival broadcasters. It's like watching a Lego reworking of X-Factor at times. But hey, what do we know?